Adjusting to life at home

Over the past week and a half we've been adjusting to life at home with Zoey.  It's been some work getting a schedule down at home because she started out being a party animal at night.  Zoey started out having awake times from 11p-4a or midnight to 5a the first few nights but we worked on keeping her awake a bit more during the day and wearing her out so she sleeps at night.  I think (knock on wood) that we've fixed that issue since she seems to be sleeping better at night now.

Overall, Zoey is such a good girl and really only cries when she's hungry or wants to be held.  She's still enjoying her bath times and is doing well with nursing and feeding.  Zoey gained just 2 ounces in the first 5 days being home since we increased on oral feeds so much.  This past week we increased the tube feeds some and she gained 5 ounces which is on the low end of what they want but still acceptable for weight gain.  This puts her at 6 lb, 6 oz now as of today.


Zoey's had a few doctor appointments also in the past 12 days.  The first was her pediatric appointment with her new primary doctor in Eau Claire.  This went well and was mostly a "get to know you" session and to get her weight.  Zoey was under the preemie curve for height, weight, and head circumference but still following the curve so they are happy with that for now.  This week she actually made it on the very bottom of the chart for head circumference despite height and weight being low but following the curve.  Blood work was done last week and this week and is showing a decrease in her bilirubin.  Between being home and being on meds, her liver seems to be improving slowly but surely.

We also went back down to Rochester last week for a follow-up eye appointment.  The Dr said he was happy with how her right eye looked which is great since that's the eye that made them want to do surgery in the first place.  Three-quarters of her left eye looks to still be healing so they'll keep watching that and we'll follow up again the first week in June.  Good thing we were there that day because her G tube had started leaking the day before.  All the NP did was inflate the balloon a little more and gave some more tips on keeping the skin healthy and not irritated around the tube and boom...it was fixed!  So glad we were going down there so that it could be resolved so quick since she was losing a lot of milk pouring out of there.

Overall, things are going great!  We were happy to have Zoey home for Mother's Day and my birthday a week later.  It's been nice just to spend so much time with her and together as a family.